The present invention relates to elongated tab members for perforated support boards and particularly to tab members for releasably stabilizing and securing hangers generally employed on perforated support boards.
Article supporting racks are commonly provided by the use of relatively rigid sheets of hardboard or the like, perforated in a regular grid-like pattern of apertures so that supporting hangers in the form of hooks or brackets may be secured in various locations on the board by engaging an anchoring element of the hanger with a selected aperture in the board. Hangers for such use with perforated board take many different forms and shapes that are determined by the nature of the articles that are to be supported thereby. In a broad sense, all or most of such hangers embody a vertically extended body or shank with an articlesupport extending forwardly from the lower end of the body or shank or from some intermediate point spaced downwardly from the upper end of the body or shank, and at the upper end of the body or shank anchoring means in the form of an anchoring hook or offset is provided which may be inserted rearwardly through a selected aperture in the perforated board in a known and well understood manner.
When thusly mounted on a perforated board, the body or shank extends downward with respect to the interlocked or anchored upper end, and because the lower portion of the body or shank bears against the forward face of the board, the projecting support may serve to carry the weight of an article placed on such support.
Hangers of the aforesaid character are generally made from a single length of wire having a diameter just slightly less than the diameter of the apertures in the board and the anchoring means is formed by bending of the wire at one end, the support is formed by bending the wire into a hook-like or other suitable form at the opposite end of the wire, while the intermediate portion of the wire is left in a straight form to provide the body or shank of the hanger. Conventionally, this intermediate body or shank portion has a length somewhat greater than the vertical spacing of the apertures.
In the use of hangers made from a single piece of wire as above described, it has been found that when an article is put in place on or is removed from the hanger, the lower end of the hanger often shifts laterally across the forward face of the board, or forward away from the board. Such forward displacement of the lower portion of the hanger often disengages the hanger from the perforated wall board. Such undesired displacement of the hangers has been considered objectionable to such an extend that various forms of stabilizers have been provided for connecting the lower portion of the body or shank with the aperture that is located immediately below the aperture in which the upper end of the hanger is secured. In some instances, the stabilizing means has taken the form of projecting lugs integral with the body or shank of the hangers and adapted to extend into the lower aperture with a snug friction fit, while in other instances, separately formed, generally U-shaped fine wire clips have been provided to embrace the body or shank of the hanger, with the ends of the clips projected through the lower opening in the board and having a spring-like lateral engagement with the sides and rear edges of the aperture.
A search of the prior art uncovered the following U.S. Pat. Nos. directed to this art: 2,859,008; 2,961,724; 3,037,732; 3,037,733; and 3,069,122.
An entirely satisfactory means for both stabilizing and securing of perforated board hangers has not been available until the emergence of the present invention.